The purpose of a bearing protector is to prevent the ingress of fluid, solids and/or debris from entering a bearing chamber. Equally, bearing protectors are employed to prevent the egress of fluid or solids from a bearing chamber. Essentially, their purpose is to prevent the premature failure of the bearing.
Bearing protectors generally fall into two categories: repeller or labyrinth bearing protectors; and mechanical seal bearing protectors. Reference is made to co-pending PCT patent publication No. WO0605950A concerned with labyrinth seal bearing protection and which discloses a substantially non-contacting bearing protector with a static shut off device.
The rotating component typically has a complex outer profile which is located adjacent and in close radial and axial proximity to a complex inner profile of the stationary component. Together these complex profiles, in theory, provide a tortuous path preventing the passage of the unwanted materials or fluids.
In conventional labyrinth devices, the close radial counter rotational members are substantially parallel to each other and run parallel to the centreline of the shaft. Unfortunately, these substantially parallel surfaces have limited effectiveness at discouraging the longitudinal movement of fluid.